A wide variety of stents and grafts have been used in various medical procedures. For example, stents and grafts (both biological and synthetic grafts) have been used to treat aneurysms and fistulas. Typically, the stent has a right circular cylindrical shape and is deliverable through a catheter to a specific location within a patient. The catheter may be used to reach a selected vessel within the vascular system wherein stenting of the vessel is desired. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,055 issued to Spiridigliozzi et al. a stent graft delivery system is described, wherein the graft is preferably constructed of a polyester fabric and may be held in position with a wide range of conventional stent designs. Although Spiridigliozzi et al. recognizes the need for a retrievable graft, they only describe a device that is retrievable and withdrawn when partially deployed. Hence, there is a need for a graft that is retrievable even after full deployment.
When a graft is delivered, it is also desirable to monitor the position of the graft after full deployment. Although markers capable of fluoroscopic detection have been attached to stents, the orientation of the ends of these stents remains difficult to determine when viewing the device in two dimensions. Lombardi et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,042 describes an endoluminal prostheses having position indicating markers on the prostheses, however, use of the markers to determine a rotational orientation of the ends is not described. Thus, there is a need for a stent having markers that indicate the rotational orientation of the stent, whether or not the device is viewed in two or three dimensions. The present invention addresses these and other needs that will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a review of the description of the present invention.